Who fooled Iranian merchants?!

The Sheikdom of Abu Dhabi (UAE) issues a 6-month evacuation warning to 5500 Iranian companies doing business in that city. These organizations must leave Abu Dhabi by end of 2012 at which time all their bank accounts will be seized and their business licenses revoked.

According to the economic publication, Baztab, over 5000 Iranian businesses are now faced with harsh setbacks and forced to seek alternative solutions, as a result of this move by Abu Dhabi Sheikdom, which is an effort in line with the mandates of new sanctions.

As though driven by an invisible force, for no apparent or official reason, a group of Iranian merchants suddenly decided to make a trip to Moscow, hoping to take advantage of property laws and new-business laws in that country, while escaping the wheels of sanctions and the imminent threat to their bank accounts and trading privileges.

What was deluding the Iranian merchants was the assumption that they were moving to some paradise near the South Pole, which incidentally happens to be conveniently close to Europe, which also happens to take an opposing position against the United States.

At a time when billions of Russian capital is fleeing Moscow, for a multitude of reasons, and finding a new nest in New York, London and Toronto, how did Moscow become Iranian investors’ Achilles tendon? Who was behind this?

While close to two hundred registered and fairly large companies were moving to Moscow, European Economic Commission was in the process of reinforcing tougher fiscal auditing and money laundering laws across the Eurozone, which would apply to all European banks and financial institutions and bring Russian banks under the scrutiny of extraordinary financial laws.

Thus, the new laws immediately unraveled the resume of the Iranian companies and sent them straight to the black list of European banks, before they got a chance to set foot on the ground.

Previously another Iranian investor had opened up a new bank in Belarus, planning to provide financial assistance to various Iranian government officials, which coincidently involved the mega project of Persepolis. A resort featuring special amenities such as multiple casinos, several nightclubs and aquarium pools, to name a few.

This giant resort was created by a group of well-known and influential Iranian individuals and directors of Iran’s tourism industry. However, a consortium of Iranian merchants and state elements based in Belarus quietly and on the surface, changed the title ownership of the property to one well known Foreign Ministry official and removed their own names and the said bank from the project.

It seems now that the super large and ambitious projects aimed at breaking ground in the lesser-developed Caucus nations tied to Russia, have failed, it is now time to go after the unsuspecting merchants.

It is all too evident that the misleading of merchants seems directly linked with the heavy-weight investors in Dubai and funneling small parts of their funds into Russia seems like a suitable remedy for the ailing and bankrupt Russian economy.

And in the process, the troubles awaiting the poor Iranian merchants don’t seem to concern those mysterious hands that lured them to Moscow.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of viable or adequate laws and regulations in Russia, many Iranian companies have fallen victim to professional fraudulent activity in the country over the past two decades, but because of the ill judicial system and the strong presence of Mafia criminals in Russia, they stand no chance of a legal pursuit of their cases.

On the other hand, Iran’s own Consulate and diplomatic presence in Russia is so powerless that renders Iranian nationals helpless and waiting for a miracle as they hope for the day that their long-term legal battles are over.

At this time, the more clever and astute business men among the Iranian merchants are seeking ways to find their way into the heart of European Union, for a chance at life with much better laws, instead of remaining in UAE and ending up exiled to Moscow.

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